


bright blue eyes

by nonbinarywithaknife (littleboxes)



Series: me sobbing about critical role [4]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Baby Names, Cuddles, Cuddling & Snuggling, Cute Kids, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff without Plot, I Made Myself Cry, Light Angst, Minor Original Character, Morning Sickness, Parenthood, Starvation, Yeza Really Loves His Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-10-21 12:54:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17643224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littleboxes/pseuds/nonbinarywithaknife
Summary: the childhood of luke brenatto, through the lense of his parents





	bright blue eyes

**Author's Note:**

> i couldn't help myself

When she vomits the first time, she assumes she’s been spending too much time in the lab, and takes a few days to rest (mostly at Yeza’s insistence, really, but his protectiveness makes her feel warm). But then, it doesn’t stop. Every day for a week, she wakes up with vomit on her tongue. She starts to crave the weirdest food combinations. It comes to a head when she nearly faints while they’re out walking, late in the afternoon. She lays in bed, while Yeza runs to Mira, the midwife of Felderwin. By the end of the day, it’s confirmed. Veth and Yeza are having a baby.

When Mira confirms Veth’s suspicions, Yeza’s eyes widen to the size of saucers. It’s so quintessentially him that she chuckles, and when he turns to her to stare at her belly, she can’t help her smile. She knows he’s going to be a wonderful father. He walks over in a daze, and rests his hands over her dress. She layers hers on top of his, and he rests his head on her shoulder. “We’re going to have a baby. _We’re_ going to have _a baby, Veth!_ ”

* * *

 

It’s not long before they start talking about names. Veth’s mother is insistent that they name them after her, if they’re a girl. Quietly, Veth tells Yeza that they _are not_ naming their child after her mother, and he offers to take the blame. The is the first, but not the last time she cries during her pregnancy. Every day, Yeza comes up with another possible name, and every day Veth insists it will come to her when the time is right.

Several months later, the baby kicks for the first time. It’s the middle of dinner, and she nearly chokes on her food. When Yeza feels the baby kick, after nearly falling off his chair to get to her, she starts crying at the love she sees in his eyes. He holds her until her eyes dry, and they end up falling asleep leaning against the dining table. The crick in her neck when she wakes up is well worth the memory of Yeza, sleepily patting her belly and mumbling “love you.”

* * *

 

Veth is visiting Edith when her water breaks. It’s winter, and she always checks in to see if Edith needs help traveling through the snow. While she’s grateful for the older woman’s calm, she longs for Yeza, and makes sure to remind Edith to have someone run and get him. By the time Mira arrives, Veth has started to get anxious. The apothecary isn’t _that_ far away from Edith’s home. Suddenly, the door bursts open, and there he is. His cheeks and nose are red from the cold, and his eyes are wide. His scarf is flapping wildly in the wind, and the buttons on his coat are done up wrong. “Edith, where’s-?” he sounds breathless from running, yet he drops his satchel and runs over as soon as he sees her.

He’s by her side for the whole ten hour ordeal. Their little one doesn’t make their entrance into the world quietly. Mira picks him up and swaddles him tightly, mindful of the cold weather. “He’s a boy.” Veth takes him gently. Being a halfling, she’s used to small, but this? His bright blue eyes take up half of his face, as he stares directly at her. The peach fuzz that covers his head is dark brown. “Luke. We should- his name should be Luke.”

She turns to Yeza to see what he thinks, but is struck by the utter enchantment on his face. He tears his eyes away from their son, to look at her. “Luke sounds perfect,” he says, a smile on his face.

* * *

 

They stay in Edith’s guestroom for several nights at her insistence. Poor Yeza never stood a chance in the face of the elderly woman’s resolve, and Veth certainly wasn’t going to argue. On Luke’s third day of being in the world, Veth looks to Yeza. “You know, he’s going to be such a smart boy. Just like his father- but hopefully better groomed,” she says, poking his sideburns, which have grown out again, looking more like small bushes than facial hair.

He blushes at the compliment, like he always does, then pokes her back. “Well, he may have my smarts, he’ll have your kind heart.” And, damn the hormones, tears well up in her eyes. She drags Yeza onto the bed with her, and they snuggle close, Luke held between them, to ward off the cold.

* * *

 

Luke is thirteen months old when he says his first word. Veth is carrying him on her way down to get Yeza for dinner. Yeza turns away from his latest project to kiss her on the cheek, when they both hear a loud, giggly, “Dadda!” They both look down in surprise, and Luke smiles at them. “Dadda!” Yeza closes the apothecary down for the rest of the day, and they revel in the milestone. As they get ready for bed, Veth looks at Yeza with a smirk on her face. “I _told_ you he’d be a smart one. Just like his dad.”

* * *

 

Luke is three years old, and hungry for stories. Every night, Yeza and Veth takes turns regaling him with the tales they were raised with, and every night he devours them like a little beast, paying rapt attention to every detail (at least, as much as his three year old brain will let him). Three is also the age Luke decides that every piece of furniture in their house _must_ be climbed on. Veth’s pretty sure they don’t have a chair without footprints at this point. Whenever Veth brings this up, Yeza just laughs and reminds her she could always tell him no. They both know they’re too soft to ever stop him, not with his masterful puppy dog eyes.

* * *

 

Luke is five years old, and starving. They’ve been trapped here for weeks, and both Yeza and Veth have frostbite. They’re all malnourished- even Luke, though they’re been giving him all their own meager food. Luke’s already tiny frame has turned skeletal, and his eyes, once as bright as the summer sky, now hold a haunted quality to them no child should have. Veth watches as more and more of the smart little boy she knows fades away, becoming as dull and lifeless as the ice around her. Veth and Yeza know what they have to do. Perhaps, if it were just the two of them, they wouldn’t risk it. But for Luke? They would risk anything.

**Author's Note:**

> edited 4/25/19


End file.
